Schools drop mask mandates as cases decline

As Covid case numbers continue to fall after peaking here in early February, so too do the mask mandates.

The only school district in the county to mandate universal mask wearing in all grades since the start of school, Cloquet school board members took a cautious approach through both the Delta and the Omicron variants, never altering the mandate. On Monday, however, board members voted 5-0 to end the mask mandate effective Saturday.

Their decision was greeted with applause by nearly a dozen parents and children who attended the meeting, most of whom addressed the board during the public comments portion of the meeting, asking that they stop requiring masks in school.

Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary hinted in the work session that it was time. He recalled how the board wanted to give staff and students time to get vaccinated. All students ages 5 and older now have the ability to be vaccinated for Covid-19, with vaccines approved for ages 5-11 in November. Cary said 85 percent of staff members are vaccinated now, although the kids haven't gotten the vaccines at the same high rates.

For the most part, parents were pleading for schools to get back to normal.

One mother spoke about making a T-shirt for her kindergarten student, who was preparing to celebrate the 100th day of school and how that hit home.

"He hasn't experienced a school year yet that's normal," Jamie Grand said. "Going to school is supposed to be a joyous thing: you're making friends, you're learning, it's supposed to be great. It's not for him. My fifth-grader hasn't had a normal school year since second grade."

Board member Ken Scarbrough motioned to end the mask mandate, after noting in the work session that case numbers are dropping and vaccines are available for those who want them.

"I think it's time to leave the masking decisions up to the parents," Scarbrough said.

Board treasurer Dave Battaglia said he thought the district had done what it could with the masks.

"I think this new variant is such that people are catching - it's more like a common cold or the flu now," he said. "I'm all for the choice right now."

The board set the mandate to expire at the end of Friday, to give administrators time to communicate with staff and students. Board members supported keeping other Covid precautionary measures in place, including recommendations for social distancing when possible and isolation protocols, such as quarantining for a certain number of days after testing positive for Covid.

Masks will still be required on any school transportation, because that's a federal requirement, Cary said.

Board chair Ted Lammi offered a cautionary note. "I just want to make a couple of warnings. This is the Omicron variant and I don't know much about my Greek letters, but we won't be over until we have the Omega variant, OK? And so, we could have another problem."

Cary responded that as the pandemic has gone on, the news of new variants and changes evolved to provide Minnesota with some advance warnings.

"[With] Omicron, we knew what to anticipate, what was coming," he said. "I think if something really concerning did come along, considering we have board meetings every two weeks, we would probably have ample opportunity to have an open public discussion before we needed to make any decisions."

Find other area school board masking changes summarized below.

Wrenshall

Wrenshall has finally seen a break in its Covid cases, prompting the school to go to an optional mask policy. The school board heard from superintendent Kim Belcastro at a special meeting Feb. 9. She said she was confident in making the shift as positive cases at the K-12 school went below the 5-percent threshold the board OK'd last fall as the mark where masks and strict quarantine policies would come into play.

"We have hit peak," Belcastro said, and now the school is seeing a 'downturn.'"

Board discussion turned to stressing some commonsense rules to the Covid road going forward, chiefly, "If you're sick," be it possibly Covid or just the flu or a cold, "stay home."

The school will continue to provide testing kits and administration will continue to talk daily with parents about concerns. "There is a plan. And there's more communication with families than ever before," Belcastro said.

Carlton

At the start of the Brown Jug game at the Carlton gym Monday night, Feb. 14, Carlton principal Ben Midge reminded the crowd that there was still a mask policy at the high school. But that was short-lived on that night as the school board met in the library at the same time. Members there agreed to lift the mask mandate in the high school as case numbers have come down. Mask requirements will continue at South Terrace, the elementary school that saw five new cases of Covid on Monday alone. The policy will likely continue there until the March spring break.

Carlton is now guiding its Covid policies based on in-school case and attendance rates. It had been relying on countywide numbers to decide if measures such as masking should be in place. Superintendent John Engstrom said cases had "leveled off" at the high school enough to consider a change in policy.

The magic Covid number is 5 percent at each of the Carlton schools. That represents about five students at each building. In early January, the high school saw 20 percent of its students absent and 15 percent with positive Covid test results. A month later, Feb. 7-11, the absentee rate was 8 percent and new Covid cases hit zero.

Engstrom said a typical, non-pandemic winter, the schools often see illness rates at the 5-percent level.

At South Terrace during the second week of January, there were 22 percent of students and staff absent and 10 new covid cases reported. In the Feb. 7-11 week, the absentees were at 11 percent with one new case of Covid. Monday's report of 5 more cases kept the masking policy in place there.

Barnum

The Barnum school board voted 5-1 Tuesday to remove the requirement to wear masks in the elementary school starting Feb. 16. Masking was already optional at the high school.

"Cloquet just lifted their mask requirements and Esko doesn't have theirs," board member Louie Bonneville pointed out. "Students can still wear masks if they want to."

It was reported that there were zero Covid cases in the elementary school Tuesday.

Wearing masks will be optional unless the number of Covid cases rises to 5 percent of elementary or high school students.

Esko

As of Monday, Feb. 14, students in all grades of the Esko school district were not required to wear masks to class or school events, regardless of vaccination status.

It was a new policy for students in elementary school, and the same policy that's been in place for more highly vaccinated secondary students since the start of the school year. The board chair and school superintendent would be able to reinstate the mask mandate if active cases are above 25 for the district.

The current Esko quarantine guidelines do not require students to quarantine after exposure if they are fully vaccinated, if they have tested positive in the last 90 days and have no symptoms, or if they were masked at the time of exposure.

Pine Knot News reporters Jana Peterson, Mike Creger, Rebekah King and Lois Johnson contributed to this story. The print version was edited for length.